Sprinklings of history, a smidgen of genealogy, a dash of art & a dusting of architecture, all mixed together with my eccentric fascinations

11 July 2015

Auckland trees: some historic beauties

Here in Auckland
city, unless they were lucky enough to survive European settlement – and,
sadly, very few did – most native trees don’t have a long history, as they were
only planted after settlement got underway with the arrival of the first
immigrant ships in the 1840s and 1850s. For exactly the same reason there are
very few exotic trees in Auckland
that are more than 160 years old. So, for my last tree blog before I depart New Zealand’s
shores I thought I’d share a few of the local trees that are older than most.

Coral tree (Erythrina caffra), Old Government House,
Auckland
central

Although some sources say New Zealand Governor Sir George Grey
planted this South African coral tree in the 1850s it seems more plausible that
it was planted in 1861 or soon after, as that was the year Grey came to Auckland
from South Africa to begin his second term as Governor and he lived in Old
Government House, in front of which this tree stands, until parliament was
moved to Wellington in 1864.

The tree’s identification has been the subject of
some debate over the years: in his 1971 unpublished report 'Historic and Notable Trees: Northland and Auckland',
S. W. Burstall labelled
it Erythrina phlebocarpa, and the
plaque at the base of the tree names it Erythrina
indica. However, the Notable Tree Register says they’re both wrong and it
is, in fact, an Erythrina caffra,
also known as a coast coral tree, a Kaffir boom, and a South African coral
tree. Whatever its name, it is a magnificent
specimen, tall, elegant and most beautiful when covered with bright orange
flowers in the springtime.

English
oaks (Quercus robur), Old Government House, Auckland central

Also at Old Government House, in the grounds that border
Waterloo Quadrant and Princes
Street, can be found many large old oak trees. Burstall
says the largest of these were planted in the early 1850s by First Secretary to
Governor Hobson, George Graham but the origin of the acorns from which they
were grown is much disputed. Burstall states that they ‘were collected from the Royal Oak, Boscabel, Shropshire,
in which Charles II hid after the Battle of Worcester, or from the Great Forest
of Windsor. Some oaks are said to have been planted from seed given to Bishop
Selwyn by Queen Victoria’.
However, in her bookNotable Trees of Auckland, Elizabeth Francke reports as follows:

Writing
in 1885, James Baber stated that the acorns were sent from Sydney. Another source gives Herne’s
Oak, the famous tree of WindsorGreatPark,
as [the] parent, while yet another claims that the acorns came from Queen
Anne’s oak, also of WindsorGreatPark.

Regardless of their origin, they are now
magnificent trees. I like what early New Zealand writer and intellectual Edward
Tregear had to say about them in a letter to the editor of the Evening Post (28 December 1894, page
4):

When a young man, I saw
oak trees planted in the grounds of Government House at Auckland. What summer visions of beauty are
those trees now. Thirty years ago the townships of Cambridge
and Ngaruawahia, in the Waikato, were mere
desolate wastes of sand. Now they are homes of loveliness, with their avenues
of umbrageous greenery and whispering aisles of refuge from the glare of day.
Benedictions on the heads of men who plant trees. There is an unselfishness in
planting trees that others may enjoy the shade which is a moral strengthening
and a mental refreshment, lifting us awhile out of the sickening struggle of
the daily life of the nineteenth century. "It blesseth him that gives and
him that takes." I am, &c Edward Tregear.

Pohutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa), ParnellRoseGardens, Parnell

This
sprawling tree is acclaimed as the largest pohutukawa in Auckland but, as with so many of our old
trees, its age is uncertain. Burstall reckoned it was planted in the 1850s and
listed three notable early Aucklanders as potential planters, Sir William
Swainson, Robert Gillies or Sir Logan Campbell, all of whom resided on this
piece of land in the early years of Auckland’s
settlement.

However, there is also a possibility that the tree pre-dates European
settlement, as Logan Campbell’s obituary in the Auckland Star(‘The Father of
Auckland’, 22 June 1912, page 5) seems to suggest: ‘With his own axe he cut down the scrub and hewed out
paths along the edge of the cliff from one side round to the other. He planted
macrocarpa, Pinus insignis, and other shade trees, and here and there left
native trees to themselves.’

Firewheel tree (Stenocarpus
sinuatus), Gillies Ave,
Epsom

This is
one of several trees in the Auckland suburb of Epsom that were probably planted
by G. B. Owens around 1865 and, according to the expert, Burstall, this is the
largest firewheel tree in New Zealand. It’s an Australian native, a member of
the protea family. The Firewheel is a shapely evergreen tree but its most
stunning feature is the flower that gives it its name, a pendant umbel of
bright red stalks that looks more like a Christmas tree decoration than a
blossom.

Sadly,
this particular tree appears unloved and under-appreciated, perched rather
precariously next to the driveway of a block of flats. My apologies for the
poor photos – the block of flats sits on a very busy road so it was difficult
to get a better angle on the tree.

These
two stately trees are also reputed to be some of Owen’s 1860s’ plantings, as he
originally owned this particular property, and the road is named after this
prominent early settler. English-born George Burgoyne Owen (1819-1893) was an
apprentice in the Sheffield cutlery trade before sailing first to Sydney and then to Auckland
in the 1840s. According to his obituary in the New Zealand Herald (25 September 1893,
page 5), Owen purchased a cutter, the Saucy
Kate, and ‘ran her in the coastal trade (principally kauri gum)’, before
settling in Auckland
as a storekeeper and general merchant. We are fortunate indeed that he was an
enthusiastic tree planter: many of the large old trees in this suburb were
planted by him.

Norfolk pine (Araucaria heterophylla),
St Stephens Ave,
Parnell

The
last in this short list of Auckland’s
historic trees is also the tallest. It was 102 feet tall in 1970 so is probably
considerably taller now. It’s located in the grounds of Selwyn Court (formerly Bishops’ Court),
home to Bishop George Augustus Selwyn (1809-1878), who served as the first
Anglican Bishop of New
Zealand from 1841 to 1858 and as Primate of
New Zealand from 1858 to 1868. Our expert, Burstall, reckons this stately
Norfolk pine looks old enough to date from the very early church days in
Auckland so may well have been planted by Bishop Selwyn himself (or, at least,
by his gardener).

About Me

I am a writer and photographer; project
manager and English teacher; knitter and genealogist; fungi forayer and bird
watcher; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and child sponsor; tree
lover and cat person; researcher and blogger; nemophilist; and traveller.